


The Devil You Know

by DrPearlGatsby



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fake Flirting, Friends to Lovers, GingerRoseWeek2020, Gingerrose - Freeform, I know fake relationship is a trope but is pretending NOT to know each other a trope?, Really just fluff, Working Professionals, anyhow Rose pretends she doesn't know him, bachelorette party dares, because duh, which becomes actual flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrPearlGatsby/pseuds/DrPearlGatsby
Summary: Rose weaves carefully between the other tables and bar patrons. Lucky for her, Hux happens to turn his back for a moment, which means the other girls don’t see his face when she sidles up next to him and says, “Pretend you don’t know me. I’m filling a dare for a bachelorette party and I don’t wanna talk to some rando.”(None of Rose's sorority sisters realize she's already acquainted with the handsome redhead they've dared her to flirt with; Rose begs him to play along.)
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 37
Kudos: 165
Collections: GingerRoseWeek2020





	The Devil You Know

**Author's Note:**

> A fic for Day Five of [GingerRose Week](https://gingerrose-hub.tumblr.com/post/614909019904163840/gingerrose-week-2020), for the prompt "AU" (because when am I NOT up for writing an AU?).

“How about the redhead? He looks like an easy target.”

“Really? With that collared shirt and that watch? Total fuckboy energy.”

“He looks like he couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“He looks like he’d choke me and I’d like it.”

The girls burst into raucous laughter, but Rose breaks apart from them, moving towards the bar. “I’ll do it,” she announces, trying not to move too quickly.

“Go Rosie! Ow _ow!_ ” one of the girls cheers.

Rose weaves carefully between the other tables and bar patrons. Lucky for her, Hux happens to turn his back for a moment, which means the other girls don’t see his face when she sidles up next to him and says, “Pretend you don’t know me. I’m filling a dare for a bachelorette party and I don’t wanna talk to some rando.”

Hux flinches ever-so-slightly at her sudden appearance but otherwise stays cool, humming as if considering her proposition. “Tico. Never seen you here before.”

“Because I never come here,” she says, turning toward him with a sweet smile that doesn’t match her voice. “I’m supposed to convince someone to buy me a drink. You’re not—here with someone, are you?”

“No. Bachelorette party?” He accepts a Negroni from the bartender, lifting an eyebrow and glancing at her coolly.

“It’s like truth or dare, only it’s pretty much all dares and they’re all stupid.”

“Sounds like it.”

Rose puts a hand on his sleeve, gently pushing. “Turn toward me, would you? Make it look like you’re enjoying talking to me. With any luck they’ll forget the dares in a few drinks.”

Hux angles his body only slightly toward her, but he’s still mostly frowning. _Stuffy bastard_. He works with Ben, so Rose has come to know him pretty well from Rey’s parties. Never mind that Rose has always found him handsome, almost devastatingly so—his personality always ruins any warm feelings she has for him. Even though Rose and Hux are both engineers doing essentially the same work, he has about ten years on her and never fails to remind her that she’s still green. “Why me? Aren’t you failing the dare if you already know me?”

“They picked you out specifically. They think you look like a fuckboy.”

Hux is lifting the drink to his lips again, but he pauses at the insult. “You’ve got to be kidding. I dress like an adult.”

“I think it was the watch.”

“This is a _nice_ watch!” He proffers his wrist, as if she doesn’t already know.

“Whatever,” Rose says, “but I’m honestly doing you a favor. They were about to be all over you.” Hux takes a drink, and even in the dim light Rose can see the blush that flares along his pale neck. “Just, please help.”

“Sorority sisters…” Hux repeats. “And here I wondered why Ben’s girlfriend never joined one of these ‘sororities’ when she came all the way here for American school. They seem like such upstanding, wholesome organizations…” He’s trying to provoke her—there’s a little edge to his frown that suggests it might morph into a smirk.

“I’m going to punch you,” Rose enunciates very clearly, “in the _mouth_.”

“Wouldn’t that make this all the more convincing?”

Rose sighs, turning again so the group of girls can’t see her. “I’m a supportive friend, okay? I go to my friends’ shitty parties. But approaching strange men is where I draw the line. _Please_ just buy me a drink. I’ll pay you back at Rey’s tomorrow.”

The corner of Hux’s mouth turns up just slightly, and Rose catches a little spark in his eye. He’s enjoying this. _He would_. “I should charge interest,” he says, glancing at the bartender, who’s hovering for Rose’s drink order.

“I’ll make you pho, okay? _And_ peanut butter brownies.”

Hux lifts his glass to her, raising his eyebrows, and then addresses the bartender. “Gin and tonic for the lady, please.”

“I don’t like gin!” Rose protests. “It tastes like a _tree_.”

“How am I supposed to know that? I’ve never met you before. I’m just the hot guy you’re picking up in a bar.” Hux is very nearly smiling—he hides the expression behind his glass as he takes another drink.

Rose makes a point of looking him up and down. “Keep telling yourself that, pretty boy,” she says, accepting the drink when it’s pushed in front of her.

“Careful, that was almost a compliment.”

Rose snorts. “I’m surprised you know what that is.”

Hux rolls his eyes.

Off to the side, Rose hears hooting, and she casually turns in the direction of her friends’ party. They’re pretending to offer her applause, some of them shooing her as if to say “go on!” Rose turns outward so they can see her, placing her hand on Hux’s sleeve again. “Like I said, pay you back tomorrow. I’ll probably have the brownies, but I can’t get you the pho immediately.”

Hux eyes her hand, his expression unreadable. “They’re still watching?”

“Absolutely,” Rose says, squeezing his arm where her hand rests and then letting go. She takes a sip of the drink— _blecch_. Still tastes too much like an evergreen. Like a Christmas tree smells.

“Does the dare stop at me buying you a drink?”

“Technically.” Rose feels her cheeks heat up. “But if I don’t get them drunker faster, there will be others.”

Hux sets his mouth in a line. “This isn’t safe, you know. Hitting on random men in bars.”

_Exactly_ , Rose thinks, getting that icky feeling she’s been ignoring all evening, ever since she found out what the itinerary was. It’s different than it was in college—in college, they’d all thought they were invincible. Now she knows much more about the world, about danger. But Rose is a people-pleaser. She’ll do whatever people ask of her, just to make them happy. She flicks at his sleeve with one finger—because it _looks like_ flirting—and conceals her fear with snark. “Excuse me, straight white man, but you’re preaching to the choir.”

Suddenly Hux bends forward, and Rose is too stunned to move away. His mouth next to her ear, he says quietly, “Rey will murder me if she finds out I left you here alone. You’re not barhopping, are you?”

“N-no,” Rose stammers, embarrassed that she can’t give a straight answer. This close up she can smell his cologne, feel his body heat and his breath on her skin, and it _absolutely should not_ be effecting her—but here she is, short-circuiting. “Just here. Hux, you don’t have to do that—”

“I’m staying,” he says firmly, pulling away and straightening up. Hux holds her eyes for a moment, his expression serious but otherwise unreadable; she mouths “thank you,” hoping her sincerity reads on her face.

Then, putting on a show for her onlookers, Rose leaves him with a wink—and his look of pure shock alone is almost worth all the cooking she’s promised to do later.

**.**

Rose has a little time before all seven of the other girls cycle through a dare each and it becomes her turn again. When it’s nearly her turn next, she excuses herself to the restroom, hoping they’ll have forgotten her and moved on by the time she gets back.

The restroom is surprisingly large and clean, not at all what she’d pictured for a bar like this, and Rose dawdles at the mirror, fluffing her long hair and assessing her cocktail dress. It’s been strange, this night out with her old college friends, now that it’s been several years after graduation. She hasn’t done the best job keeping in touch with them, and there’s a part of her that wonders if it hasn’t been by design. Deep down she knows she’d joined the sorority to try to fill the hole that Paige had left.

Deep down she also knows that the kind of things she’d thought of as “fun”—the date parties, the formals, the weekends of day-drinking—were just her people-pleasing nature. Sure, she looks passably cute in her red cocktail dress, but she doesn’t feel like herself. _Alcohol is a depressant_ , she reminds her forlorn reflection.

She hasn’t forgotten about Hux, but he still startles her when he intercepts her coming out of the restroom. “Did they forget about the dares?” They’re nearer to a set of speakers, so he kind of has to shout to be heard.

“I’ll find out in a minute,” Rose shouts back, sidestepping him to return to the table of other girls. It’s surprising that he offered to stay, something she keeps turning over in her mind. Yes, Rey would be upset if she knew every part of the story—how uncomfortable Rose really was inside, how Hux might have left her to complete dares involving strangers—but Hux doesn’t often make choices in deference to Rey or Ben. He’s stubborn and arrogant and sometimes straight-up rude, but tonight he’s been so much less horrible than usual. Rose can’t quite wrap her mind around it.

When she reaches her table, one of the other girls has started her second dare, and Rose relaxes, hopping back up onto one of the chairs. But then they all turn to Rose.

“We saved a _perfect_ one for you.”

**.**

“Okay, how drunk are you,” Rose opens when she accidentally-on-purpose bumps into Hux with her arm.

“Not at all,” he replies flatly, gesturing with his glass. “This is only my second drink. Why?”

Rose bites her lip, trying to come up with a game plan. She turns where the girls will see her and goes up on her tiptoes, placing one hand on Hux’s shoulder to steady herself as she leans toward his ear. He inclines his body just slightly so she can reach.

“Uh…” she whispers inelegantly. “I don’t have anything to say. I’m just trying to look like I’m flirting.”

“How drunk are you?” he asks softly.

“Not at all,” Rose whispers, lowering herself back to her regular height.

Hux nods. He reaches out with one hand and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear—an achingly tender gesture that Rose almost wishes wasn’t an act. “What’s the dare this time?”

Rose lets out the breath she’s accidentally been holding. “I can fake it really easy, okay? Bend a little again.” She lifts up on her toes again, briefly resting a hand on his jaw and bumping her nose into his cheek. “There. I kissed you.”

Even though no kiss has actually occurred, Rose finds herself nervously retreating away from Hux without a backwards glance. Her heart is actually pounding in her chest as she replays the gentle tug of his fingers in her hair. In that moment she could’ve sworn she saw something deeper in his eyes.

Her sorority sisters applaud her when she comes back. “He’s _staring_ at you,” one of them giggles. Rose glances over her shoulder to see this is true—Hux’s eyes are still on her, though he’s too far off for her to discern the subtleties of his expression. She lets out a hysterical giggle of her own, trying to imagine how awkward dinner is going to be tomorrow.

**.**

The girls only want one more round of drinks before they decide to call it a night. “It’s too expensive here,” someone complains. “No, we’re too old for this!” They all laugh.

Rose refuses to feel disappointed that they’re leaving, that this weird game of not-so-fake flirting with Ben’s apparently-not-all-horrible coworker has to end. She’s sure he’ll be glad to hear he’s no longer on the hook. “Hang on,” Rose tells the party. “I’ll, uh, be ready to go in a second.”

“Oo la la!” someone calls after her when they see her headed toward Hux.

“Hey,” Rose says, sidling up to him for the third time in one night.

Hux sets his glass down on the bar _hard_ and turns toward her, crowding into her space. Before Rose has a chance to say anything else, he places one hand on her almost-bare shoulder, leans down, and kisses her soundly on the lips.

Rose’s reaction is automatic—before she can think she’s kissing him back, opening her mouth to him as she nips at his upper lip, and then his tongue is inside her mouth and his other hand is on her back and she can feel the warmth his body is radiating, the lean muscle where her hand rests on his chest, the little moan he makes at the back of his throat. It only lasts a few brief moments before Hux pulls away, straightening up to his full height.

“I—don’t have any more dares,” Rose tells him breathlessly. “I was just going to tell you we’re leaving. So—so thank you, but I…”

“That wasn’t for any dares.”

Rose blinks up at him wide-eyed, her hand still resting against his chest. His heartbeat feels like it’s going crazy under her palm—and she feels much the same, stunned and completely keyed-up. “Then why…?”

“I don’t know, Tico, why does a man kiss a woman?” He’s blushing hard, but he still manages to look exasperated. It’s all very Hux.

Rose opens and closes her mouth a couple of times before she settles on a coherent thought. “How long have you wanted to kiss me?”

The hand on her shoulder gives a brief squeeze, and he traces her collarbone with his thumb. His voice is low and his eyes are searching her face when he finally answers, “A while.”

Rose cups his face with her hand and kisses him again, quick and openmouthed.

“Have dinner with me,” he breathes as soon as she’s pulled away, his eyes dropping down to her lips as if he might kiss her again.

“Dinner is at Rey’s tomorrow. How about lunch?”

Hux leans closer, his eyes half-lidded.

“Hux, we’re in a _bar_.”

He catches himself, awkwardly straightening up again. “Lunch. Sure.”

“Okay.” Rose pats him on the chest with the hand resting there, stepping out of his grip. She gives him a genuine smile, and though he still looks a little too stunned to smile back, she knows now for sure that she wasn’t imagining the look in his eyes. She winks again, less theatrically this time and in all sincerity. “See you tomorrow, stranger.”


End file.
